While She Sleeps have shared the sonically adventurous new single SELF HELL. The titular track from their freshly announced sixth full-length, SELF HELL demonstrates the sonic leap-forward that While She Sleeps committed to taking with the album, which is set for release on March 15.
SELF HELL does everything all at once – huge riffs, thumping big beat grooves, a maelstrom of synth textures, melodic vocals contrasted with bloody-throated screams and swirling backing harmonies - all in a way that remains coherent while pushing their boundaries to a maximalist new level. It is the perfect introduction to a record that draws upon a far wider palette of influences to create a sonic collage of each member’s musical passions, SELF HELL has the fearless spirit of a debut album, yet the cohesion of a band who have become such a vital force over the past decade.
This incarnation of While She Sleeps is uncompromisingly unpredictable, riffs are still granite heavy, but this album sees them drawing upon more diverse influences such as Aphex Twin, Gorillaz, Bicep, The Prodigy and Kendrick Lamar.
Those influences have seen a broader range of instruments incorporated on ‘SELF HELL’, especially with vintage synths such as the Korg MS-20 and the Behringer TD-3. Just as importantly was their attitude. While She Sleeps were all raised in mining villages around Sheffield and remembered how Britpop surrounded the environment during their youth, its working-class swagger informing the album’s defiant nothing-to-lose and everything-to-gain spirit.
Guitarist Sean Long elaborates on the title “The name of the album is the foundation of how we view ourselves and the world. Everyone has a subjective experience like no other. Yet the constant that binds us IS the differences between us and the fact that we are all suffering in our own way. Don’t be too quick to judge and demonise, your time will come for redemption or damnification. We’ve been drawing inspiration from an array of misfit artists far from where you would usually pigeonhole While She Sleeps. Each member has brought in a different perspective of inspiration so far apart in genre that it has left us with a very odd and satisfying sonic. While She Sleeps will continue to keep the world guessing on what we will do next. Not only for the fans but this is a spiritual venture that we have to keep alive, moving, and constantly in flux. We do this by scaring ourselves with things we are not supposed to do. Every. Single. Day.”
The album was produced by their long-term collaborator Carl Bown and the band’s guitarist, Sean Long. While She Sleeps - completed by Lawrence ‘Loz’ Taylor (vocals), Mat Welsh (guitar), Aaran Mckenzie (bass) and Adam Savage (drums) - recorded the album during sessions at Metropolis Studios in London, Treehouse Studio in Chesterfield, and their own Six Audio in Sheffield.
SELF HELL is available to pre-order or pre-save here.
SELF HELL lands as the While She Sleeps gear up to head down under for Good Things Festival 2023, where the Sheffield quintet, will join the likes of Fall Out Boy, Limp Bizkit, Devo and more in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Tickets for the festival are on sale now.
About the Good Things 2023 lineup:
From dominating your Myspace era to becoming one of rock’s biggest-selling bands, have proven time and time again that their sweltering legacy is definitely not a phase, with their latest 2023 album So Much (For) Stardust marking the band’s seventh consecutive top-ten charting album. Armed with a career to date that spans Billboard #1 debuts, gracing the cover of Rolling Stone, sold-out stadium runs playing to over 1 million fans and multiple Grammy Award nominations, the Fall Out Boy live experience is guaranteed to be explosive, enigmatic and packed full sentimental delights as well as fresh cuts.
Whether you’re a Dad Vibes stan or have been rollin’ since day one, Florida heavies Limp Bizkit to keep the party rockin’ this December. One of the most influential acts of the nu metal era, they have garnered three Grammy Award nominations alongside their timeless angst and genre-straddling prowess that brought rap metal to the masses; a fact that continues colourfully to this day.
And from breaking stuff to whipping it, American new wave legends DEVO will also take the Good Things Festival stages later this year for their last-ever Australian appearances as part of The Farewell Tour Celebrating 50 Years. The ultimate meeting point for rock and electronic fusion, DEVO’s impact on the alternative music landscape is as revered as their tongue-in-cheek charm.
Post-hardcore Grammy-nominated heroes I Prevail will be bringing the arena vibes, continuing their meteoric rise that has spanned their decade-long career. Hailed as being one of rock’s biggest breakthrough bands, the group's might has only intensified of late with the release of their 2022 album True Power.
Welsh metal outfit Bullet For My Valentine's infectious blend of heavy metal and metalcore is perfect for activating pits, while Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor will keep the party firing on all cylinders, bringing his solo adventures to Australia alongside his brand-new album CMF2.
Set for release on September 15th via Decibel Cooper/BMG, CMF2 is available for pre-order now here. CMF2 will be the sequel to Taylor's 2020 solo debut CMFT and follow-up B-sides collection CMFB...Sides.
Flying the flag for all things raucous, Golden State staples Pennywise will flex their fiery flair, with the iconic California punk rockers heading our way yet again after a monstrous headline run in 2022. And also repping the punk at Good Things Festival this year will be none other than the ARIA Award-winning stylings of thrash pop mainstays Spiderbait; three friends from a small country town who took the industry by storm decades ago, and have snagged nearly every accolade in existence on the Australian music scene.
Speaking of Aussies, beloved indie rockers Slowly Slowly will be ready to delight this December with their anthemic melodics and colourful pop and armed with their buoyant 2022 album Daisy Chain which snagged triple j’s feature album upon release. Meanwhile, British electronic rockers Enter Shikari will be packing their dynamic wares to wow the crowds wielding their seventh full-length album, the #1 charting A Kiss for the Whole World.
The relentless fury of Poland metallers Behemoth will be primed to blow the festivities into a whole new stratosphere when the group make their eagerly anticipated return down under. A band whose creative innovation is as revered as their jagged dynamics, their live show is renowned for its power, as is the sweltering live reputation of influential groove merchants Sepultura who will return to Australia this December all the way from Brazil.
Also letting the good vibes roll this December, prolific indie rockers Taking Back Sunday will hit our shores armed with hooks, odes to heartbreak and their notorious live potency, alongside the enigmatic electropop stylings of the chameleonic PVRIS guaranteed to bring all of the captivating feels to a Good Things Festival stage near you.
Good Things Festival 2023’s nod to some of our most beloved icons, the gamut of Australian alternative rock will also be celebrated in brilliant fashion by some of the most formative names in the game, including the chart-topping, multi-time ARIA Award-winning rockers Eskimo Joe, as well as the band who nearly broke the airwaves with their irresistible rockin’ earworms in the 90s: Jebediah.
Continuing the Aussie flavour at Good Things Festival this year, you’ll never have so much fun as you do copping punk rock rapscallions Frenzal Rhomb live in action, with the Sydney group lined up alongside quintessential Central Coast pop punks Short Stack and charismatic Melbourne mainstays Boom Crash Opera o lather you in all the fun and punk-tastic earworms you can handle. Continuing a huge year of touring and releasing new music, Tassie rockers Luca Brasi are ready to dazzle with their emphatic rock wares, as are symphonic metal dynamos Make Them Suffer, Sydney melodic hardcore outfit BLOOM and Melbourne post hardcore powerhouses Tapestry.
For lovers of metalcore and its surrounds, clear your schedule and get pumped for the J-pop-soaked riffs and breakdowns from Japan’s HANABIE, as well as the cathartic yet towering potency of Ohio quartet The Plot In You, the lush brutality of British melodic heavy-hitters While She Sleeps, and the pummeling force of Australia’s very own Ocean Sleeper. And from riff city to delicious brutality, Russian deathcore titans Slaughter To Prevail are ready, willing, and gleefully able to lure you into the mosh.
And that’s still not all! Whether you need a hit of buoyant punk, glossy alt pop or both; good news, you don’t have to choose because Florida rockers Magnolia Park and solo sensation Royal & The Serpent will both be in your Good Things Festival future in 2023, with Sydney pop punks Stand Atlanctic also locked in to stupefy later this year with a heap of new tunes in tow.
GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2023
Fall Out Boy
Limp Bizkit
Devo (The Farewell Tour Celebrating 50 Years)
I Prevail | Bullet For My Valentine | Corey Taylor
Pennywise | Spiderbait | Slowly Slowly | Enter Shikari
Behemoth | Sepultura | Taking Back Sunday | PVRIS
In Alphabetical Order:
Bloom | Boom Crash Opera | Eskimo Joe | Frenzal Rhomb | Hanabie | Jebediah | Luca Brasi
Magnolia Park | Make Them Suffer | Ocean Sleeper | Royal & The Serpent | Short Stack
Slaughter To Prevail | Stand Atlantic | Tapestry | The Plot In You | While She Sleeps
DATES AND VENUES:
Friday 1 December 1st- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne (LIC AA 15+)
Saturday December 2nd - Centennial Park, Sydney (18+)
Sunday December 3rd- Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane (LIC AA 15+)
Listen to the best new heavy tracks on our METAL MANIACS playlist
